The Immeasurable Wilds: Travellers to the Far North of Scotland

A Letter from the General: Roy, Mapmaker, Antiquarian, and Force Behind the Ordnance Survey.

For an important figure - maker of a remarkable map of the whole of Scotland, author of an important book on Roman Antiquities in Scotland, overseer of a geodetic survey linking London to the coast of France, and strong advocate for an official national survey, whose influence led to the setting up of the Ordnance Survey one year after his death - Major-General William Roy is still a rather shadowy character. Incredibly there is no known portrait of the man. At one time it was thought that a figure in a caricature by George Cruikshank titled "The Antiquarian Society" was the great man - I have posted a detail from the cartoon above. This is the full image:

The suggestion that the figure standing third from the right is William Roy stems from the bundle of papers seen in his pocket marked "Ordnance Affairs", and from his gaze which seems to be fixed onto the table where is to be found a vase marked 'Roman' (very much his interest). I notice that the British Museum now claims this is not William Roy, but rather Lord Mulgrave, Master-General of the Ordnance, 1810 - 1818.

Information regarding Roy is particularly scarce in his early years. Was his knowledge relating to mapmaking based on what he had learnt from his father who was a factor, or was he employed for a while in the Board of Ordnance office in Edinburgh? 

The man who chose Roy to be in charge of the mapping of the Highlands following Culloden, Lt-Colonel David Watson, had known him since he was a boy. His choice could not have been better. The 'Great Map' as it is now known was greeted with much enthusiasm, and the work extended into Southern Scotland. It remains one of the most remarkable pieces of cartography in existence, what he called a 'magnificent military sketch' rather than an accurate map of the country, but the contours of the countryside are captured uniquely in the design which was overseen by the artist Paul Sandby. You can see this Great Map on the National Library of Scotland website.

Roy was lucky to have Sandby in his team, and posterity was too, for his sketches of Highland life illustrate a society that had scarcely been depicted previously. I have a small watercolour of a mother and child collecting wood, which is attributed to Sandby. Whether it is by him, and what is more, a Scottish scene I do not know, but it is typical of his observations of life in the Highlands.

I also have three engravings by Sandby, all Scottish scenes, one of which depicts a surveying team at work in the Highlands.

I also have a copy of Roy's book on Roman Antiquities of Scotland. The mapping of the country led to a discovery of various sites in the southern areas which excited Roy's interest. Roy was called to the south of England in 1755, but he was able to continue this research with the help of Robert Melville, a young army officer he had met in Edinburgh in 1754. He was back in Scotland in 1764, and made several brief visits in the years following, writing most of the text for the book in 1772. However, it was not published until after his death: it appeared in 1793, with maps and drawings engraved by James Basire, and published by the Society of Antiquaries who had recognised the value of its contents immediately.

It is a large tome, the covers measuring 55cms x 38cms (21" x 15"). There is a superb map of Scotland at the front of the plates:

The book also contains some fine engravings, and a set of maps that appear very similar in style to those found in the "Great Map" which Sandby had worked on in the 1750s.

From the 1760s, Roy's various accomplishments were recognised. He was proposed as a Fellow of the Royal Society in 1767, whilst in the army he found promotion to Colonel in 1777, and Major-General in 1781. In 1787/8, he supervised the geodetic survey from London to the Kent coast, which involved a series of accurate triangulation measurements. Such techniques were later used by the Ordnance Survey in their mapping of the country, a project which had been dear to Roy's heart and for which he had been pressing since 1763. The Survey officially came into existence on 12th July, 1791, a year after Roy's death.

For me, the most exciting item in my collection in connection with Roy is a letter from the great man. I can't claim that it is a letter of huge importance: it is a reply to a communication from Simon Frazer (I have the draft copy of this as well) regarding wood supplied at two military camps. But it is in Roy's own handwriting, and it gives me a direct connection to this man who otherwise remains a slightly shadowy figure in British History.

This is the reply from Major-General Roy. He was living in Great Poultney Street in London at the time, which coincidentally (or not) is where the two Sandby brothers Paul and Thomas had a residence, and it was also close to where his antiquarian friend Robert Melville lived.

I give below a transcript of the two communications from Frazer and Roy.

 Draft of a letter to Coln. Roy, 24th Oct., 1778, from Simon Frazer.

Sir,

In pursuance of what I had the honour to write to you the 2oth Inst., the camps at Warley-Common & Coxheathhave both been visited, and the Stock of Wood and Hay examined into on the Spot, and I have the pleasure to inform you that under all the disadvantages arising from the mode in which the orders for the Supply have been given, there is at Coxheath and in the neighbourhood full as much of every thing purchas’d as I have yet any authority to provide, and that at Warley Common, where there is plenty of everything else, the Wood either purchas’d, or in course of being immediately purchas’d, is but a mere trifle short of 14 days Supply at the present increas’d rate of Consumption.

The late Alarm has entirely proceeded from the Consumption of Wood being encreas’d more than ona half without any previous notice, the encreas’d Consumption having commenc’d at both Camps on the day you inform’d me in London of the intention to encrease it, and from the extreme difficulty of getting Waggons in the middle of seed time [crossed out from this point] when any hire that can be offer’d is no Compensation to the Farmer for neglecting his own business.

[Still crossed out] After the representation made to Lord Amherstthe 9th June and the frequent mention made by you of the Hardship, as well as Hazard to the Service from requiring me to make daily purchases, and Deliveries, equal to the daily Consumption, whereby I have been precluded from all management of Markets, and from laying in a Stock, or procuring Carriage at cheap and plentiful seasons; I should not from any view to my own Interest trouble you with further observations on this point, but the exhausted State in which I see the Country about Warley Common as to Wood, makes it incumbent on me to inform you, that this mode of Supply for that Camp,[end of crossing out?] seems no longer practicable, and that the Wood, which with earlier notice might have been easily Secur’d, is now applied to other purposes, so that if that Camp is to be kept up beyond the present beyond the present fortnight, there is not a moment’s time to be lost, in giving me such orders as may enable me to get Wood that is now standing, cut down, to answer the demand.

At Coxheath, I am of opinion that Wood may be had for two or three weeks longer, after which the same remedy will also become necessary. ___________ The declaration of the increase of Consumption at Warley Common before I had time to make any purchases has rais’d the demands of the Sellers of Wood from [£?]17 or 18 to 30 £[?], which I think it necessary to inform you of, as an expence to Government will thereby be incurr’d – My Contract is to furnish 105 Pounds of Wood to every tent(?) per Week, and I can by no means consent to furnish any more at the Contract price, which is greatly below the prime cost, & I do not desire to gain any thing by such extra quantity as may be required, but I hope you’ll think it just that I should not be the loser by it. ____________________ [Crossed out from this point] As the seed time elapses, we shall find Waggons less and less scarce, and according to the promises made by the Farmers, I hope there will now be no occasion to apply for power to impress them , which had very near been the case a few days ago, but orders are left to give me immediate notice whenever the delivery into Magazine falls short of the daily Consumption, and whenever it happens, I shall beg leave to lay the Circumstances before you for such Aid and Directions as the Case may require [endo of crossing out, and of draft].

The reply from Roy:

[Down the side of the sheet:] Poultney Street 26 Oct, 78.

Pulteney Street, Oct. 26th -78.

Sir,

I have received your letter of the 24th, and shall take the matters into consideration. _______

Lord Amherst having intimated that the two remaining Camps of Cocksheath and Warley Common will break up soon after Tuesday the 2d. of November I would judge it expedient to reduce the Fortnights Supply ?? [loss at right hand edge] kept up in the Magazines of these Camps, so that for one week only , from the said 2d. of Novbr., unless you shall in the interim be directed to the contrary.

I shall this day order the Residing Commissaries at Bury, Portsmouth, Winchester and Plymouth, to make an accurate state of the various articles remaining in their respective Magazines, that the same may be immediately sold by auction on Government’s account. The money arising from the sale to remain in the hands of the Residing Commissary, till the Treasury Board shall order how it is to be applied. ______ You will therefore inform your Agents at these Camps accordingly.

Until the Magazines are disposed of, the Residing Commissaries are to apply to the Commanding Offs. [?] of the nearest Regiment for such guard as may be necessary for their securety.

I am, Sir,

Your most Obed. Humble Serv.

WillRoy. Comg. Gen[??]

                                                                                   Simon Frazer Esq.

Finally I am adding images of the three rather splendid watermarks on the sheets of the two letters, which are in themselves of some interest.